Brain

Can you help you? Recent research by University of Illinois Professor Dolores Albarracin and Visiting Assistant Professor Ibrahim Senay, along with Kenji Noguchi, Assistant Professor at Southern Mississippi University, has shown that those who ask themselves whether they will perform a task generally do better than those who tell themselves that they will.

Pre-humans living in East Africa 4.4 million years ago inhabited savannas -- grassy plains dotted with trees and shrubs -- according to a team of researchers that includes earth science Naomi Levin of The Johns Hopkins University's Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

This conclusion is at odds with a theory – which holds that these early beings lived in a mostly forested environment – put forth by prominent University of California at Berkeley researcher Tim D. White and his team in a 2009 issue of the journal Science.

SALT LAKE CITY, May 27, 2010 – A Nobel Prize-winning University of Utah geneticist discovered that bone marrow transplants cure mutant mice who pull out their hair compulsively. The study provides the first cause-and-effect link between immune system cells and mental illness, and points toward eventual new psychiatric treatments.

Scientists earlier found that mice missing one of a group of core developmental genes known as the Hox genes developed an odd and rather unexpected pathology: the mutant animals groomed themselves compulsively to the point that they were removing their own hair and leaving self-inflicted open sores on their skin. Now, they've found a surprising connection between the Hoxb8 gene and the behavior that looks an awful lot like that of people with an obsessive compulsive spectrum disorder (OCD).

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The dietary supplement CDP-choline, sold as a brain-boosting agent and under study for stroke and traumatic brain injury, may block skull and brain damage that can result from alcohol consumption early in pregnancy, Medical College of Georgia researchers report.

Researchers have found that treating HIV-infected persons with antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces HIV transmission to their sexual partners by more than 90 percent. The study is published this week in the Lancet.

"These results are an important finding in the search for effective HIV prevention strategies and the strongest evidence to date that ART might decrease HIV transmission risk," said Dr. Connie Celum, professor of medicine and global health at the University of Washington and the senior author of the paper.

Exercise can buffer the effects of stress-induced cell aging, according to new research from UCSF that revealed actual benefits of physical activity at the cellular level.

In a study appearing in the journal PLoS ONE, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) scientists describe finding mathematical patterns underlying the way individuals unconsciously distribute their preferences regarding approaching or avoiding objects in their environment. These patterns appear to meet the strict criteria used to determine whether something is a scientific law and, if confirmed in future studies, could potentially be used to guide diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders.

Irvine, Calif., May 26, 2010 — UC Irvine scientists have created an eight-layer, early-stage retina from human embryonic stem cells, the first three-dimensional tissue structure to be made from stem cells.

It also marks the first step toward the development of transplant-ready retinas to treat eye disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration that affect millions.

New research uses "noise," sound waves formed from many thousands of completely unpredictable random numbers played as a sound, to probe how the human brain acquires auditory memories. The study, published by Cell Press in the May 27 issue of the journal Neuron, reveals that learning new sounds is quick, robust, and long-lasting, resembling a sudden insight.

Researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have identified in mice a previously unknown protective mechanism by which the smallest blood vessels remove blood clots and other blockages from the brain. The findings provide insights into mechanisms that may be involved in age-related cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease and recovery from stroke.

NEW ORLEANS—Researchers at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital have produced the first evidence that the opioid blocker extended-release injectable naltrexone (XR-NTX) is able to reduce the brain's response to cues that may cause alcoholics to relapse.

CHICAGO --- Spitting can be a good thing when it comes to blood vessels.

Scientists at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have discovered capillaries have a unique method of expelling debris, such as blood clots, cholesterol or calcium plaque, that blocks the flow of essential nutrients to brain cells. The capillaries spit out the blockage by growing a membrane that envelopes the obstruction and then shoves it out of the blood vessel.

Learning requires the sophisticated ability to constantly update expectations in order to make accurate predictions about the changing environment. Although a full characterization of how this is orchestrated by the brain remains elusive, a new study published by Cell Press in the May 27 issue of the journal Neuron provides insight into how the human brain may use a combination of two distinct strategies to guide behavior.

PASADENA, Calif.—The process of learning requires the sophisticated ability to constantly update our expectations of future rewards so we may make accurate predictions about those rewards in the face of a changing environment. Although exactly how the brain orchestrates this process remains unclear, a new study by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) suggests that a combination of two distinct learning strategies guides our behavior.

A paper about the work will appear in the May 27 issue of the journal Neuron.